Research On Status Of Male College Students' Fitness In Southern Area Of Vietnam

National physical fitness has always been highly valued worldwide, which is also taken seriously by the leaders of all countries. The condition of the national physical fitness in a country is directly linked to the future development of a country. John Kennedy, the former US president, once pointed out that physical fitness was the basis of all activities, since both mental and technical ability could be fully activated only when one was physically strong. The Soviet Union has considered physical fitness as its national benefits and taken physical training as "free and permanent medical treatment". Japan, during the post-war reconstruction, brought forth a policy of "commencing with the thorough transformation of citizen's physique and physical fitness", which enabled it to rapidly rank among the strongest countries in the world. A similar idea was proposed by Germany after the First World War, saying "national recovery should base on the enhancement of physical fitness". In China, after the victory of Anti-Japanese War, Chairman Mao brought forward the slogan to "promote physical culture and build up the people's health". As a result, the improvement of physical ability enables Chinese people to remove the label" Sick Man of East Asia" on old China. According to the US National Institutes of Health, physical exercises and fitness are ranked first among the 21 national health objectives in 2000. Researches on physical fitness in different countries have focused on children and teenagers. However, college students, as the main force in the future development of all undertakings, need not only profound knowledge and moral cultivation, but also healthy bodies to ensure the completion of studies in order to provide better service for the society. Therefore, the physical condition of college students is closely connected with their own development and will immediately influence the future development of a country. In Vietnam, most colleges are gathered in the southern area where the economy is relatively developed. There is no doubt that it will make a considerable contribution to the nation's construction if researches and physique tests can be carried out to find out the current physical condition of the college students in southern Vietnam. With the researches and tests, the students' collective potential can be generalized with its inner causes thoroughly analyzed, which will provide a scientific theoretical basis for measures to effectively enhance their physical state.In this thesis, various approaches, including document-data method, experts interviews, questionnaire survey, experimental method and mathematical statistics, are applied to investigate the current physique condition of male college students among southern Vietnam. With the random selection of participants, research data are collected and divided into three groups as follows:those collected when the students entered the colleges, those collected in their second year after participants has completed their PE lessons and those collected before they graduate. By comparing and analyzing these data, as well as comparing with those of other boys of the same age across the country, this research is concluded with the following findings:Firstly, the physical types of the male college students in southern Vietnam tend to be weak while their weights are increasing year by year with a tendency of becoming overweight or even obesity; Secondly, the two indexing data, HRrest and lung capacity which reflects heart-lung functions, present a declining tendency; Thirdly, as far as physical quality is concerned, speed, grip and lower limb explosive are relatively good in general, whereas stamina and flexibility have endured notable decrease; Fourthly, although the male college students in southern Vietnam have kept a positive attitude toward physical exercises, they do not have a comprehensive understanding of physical training and are lack of the basic skills and theoretical knowledge concerning physical exercises. Moreover, the idea of avoiding pain and tiredness in training is rather serious, which is mainly due to the weakness of their conception on strengthening the body. Therefore, the colleges and related sports authorities should attach more importance to broaden students' knowledge on health and to cultivate their exercise consciousness, strength of will and exercise ability. Based on the investigation, this thesis puts forward five suggestions: First, transform the teaching content, means and method in college PE lessons to make the students participate in physical exercises willingly; Second, establish evaluation system to encourage students' active participation in the exercises; Third, take advantage of all spare time to improve the extracurricular athletics; Fourth, set up a scientific fitness guiding center and design proper training patterns to cater for different individuals; Fifth, increase the proportion of sports theory lessons to enhance students' consciousness of physical training. In summary, this thesis aims to lay the foundation for the long-term dynamic observation of the physical conditions and changes of the citizens and students in southern Vietnam. It is hoped that this research can make some contribution to both the research data base and the perfection of citizens and students' physical health surveillance system and can provide referential basis for the effective operation of college physical education.